Dodd-Frank
By Ryan Schuette | 05/07/2012
House Republicans recently called on the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau to release financial plans and performance targets for the next year. In a letter obtained by MReport, Reps. Michael Fitzpatrick, Randy Neugebauer, and James Renacci slammed the agency by calling it unresponsive to their requests for budget details. The House members frequently made mention of the national debt, tying perceptions of government excess and waste to their demands for congressional oversight of the bureau. The Fed-funded bureau remains at the center of a political storm.
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By Ryan Schuette | 04/27/2012
Twenty-four trade groups and associations signed off on a comment letter Friday that calls on the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau to give creditors more legal leeway when it comes to Qualified Mortgages. The two-page letter – headed up by the American Bankers Association, Mortgage Bankers Association, National Association of Home Builders, and National Association of Realtors, among others – framed forthcoming rules around credit availability and sound home loans. Influential trade groups continue to criticize the rule.
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By Ryan Schuette | 04/25/2012
The FDIC projects that it will replenish the hard-hit Deposit Insurance Fund on schedule, as fewer community banks fail and the economic recovery turns a corner. The agency made the projections in a semi-annual update Tuesday that also found so-called Problem Institutions falling from 844 in September last year to 813 by the fourth quarter. Requirements under the Dodd-Frank Act require that the FDIC shore up the fund by 1.35 percent by 2020. The FDIC said that the fund ended last year at $11.8 billion – the equivalent of a shift to 0.17 percent for the reserve ratio.
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By Ryan Schuette | 04/24/2012
The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau went live with an inquiry Tuesday that it said will help it determine whether to move on new rules for dispute arbitration clauses. As with many comment periods for new rules, the inquiry is open to the general public and financial services companies. The CFPB said that it wanted to look for answers to questions about the prevalence of arbitration clauses in contracts for financial products, the kinds of claims consumers bring against financial services companies, and how arbitration clauses impact consumers.
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By Ryan Schuette | 04/20/2012
Lawmakers seated on the House Financial Services Committee recently unveiled a new online resource for members of the public to track burdens created by the Dodd-Frank Act. The so-called Dodd-Frank Burden Tracker includes a spreadsheet with rules by agency, page length, date of proposal, and more. The committee – comprised by conservative Republicans – billed the tracker as a means to transparency for some 185 of 400 rules, which currently take up more than 5,000 pages, according to information from a statement.
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By Ryan Schuette | 04/19/2012
The House Financial Services Committee signed off on largely symbolic legislation Wednesday that would repeal bailout funds under the Dodd-Frank Act, eliminate force-placed insurance requirements, and rope the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau into future congressional appropriations processes. Clearing the legislation by a party-line vote, committee members billed it as a way to slash $35 billion from the national deficit. The bill also proposed doing away with bailout mechanisms under Dodd-Frank.
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By Ryan Schuette | 04/13/2012
The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau issued a bulletin Friday reminding financial institutions that they may be held accountable for violations under contracted service providers. The agency said that banks and nonbank entities need to supervise their third-party vendors with due diligence, consistently request and review their internal controls and training materials, and establish clear expectations about compliance. The CFPB also called on financial institutions to adopt the internal controls necessary to supervise vendors.
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By Ryan Schuette | 04/10/2012
The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau steamed ahead with proposals for new rules Tuesday that would require mortgage servicers to notify homeowners about changes to their interest rates and insurance policies. The CFPB said it would publish proposals for the rules this summer and seek to finalize them by January next year. Under the new rules, servicers would need to tally up mortgage payments for homeowners every month, issue notifications about interest-rate changes for many adjustable-rate mortgages, and stay transparent about so-called force-placed insurance policies.
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By Ryan Schuette | 03/20/2012
The House Budget Committee unveiled a budget plan for the next fiscal year that proposes raising guarantee fees for the GSEs and dismantling the Dodd-Frank Act. Committee chair Rep. Paul Ryan billed the so-called Path to Prosperity as a measure that will slash $6.2 trillion in government expenditures over the next decade and draw down the deficit by more than $4.4 trillion in contrast with President Barack Obama’s budget. House Republicans proposed raising guarantee fees, downsizing portfolios for the GSEs, and eventually leaving housing finance to only the Federal Housing Administration.
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By Ryan Schuette | 02/29/2012
A hearing held by House lawmakers Wednesday with Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke recast housing and the Dodd-Frank Act as issues critical to the economic recovery. The central banker said that 30 percent of home sales recently consisted of foreclosures and properties in distress, reflecting ongoing trouble for a market underpinned by high home vacancy rates and downward pressure for home prices. The underwriting process, down payments, and pending regulations also took center-stage during the discussion, with House members spotlighting recent servicer consent orders.
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